General News

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27403, 16 July 1954, Page 10

General News

Fire in Piecart Frying fat which caught fife- in a piecart opposite the Pioneer Sports Club in Oxford terrace last evening attracted a lot of attention but caused little damage. Flames licked round the fume chimney and through the roof, where they were noticed from the upper floor of the Sports Club. A Central Fire Brigade unit quickly stopped the fire and business was continuing as usual by 10.20 p.m. Only slight damage was done to a small section of the wall and ceiling round the chimney. Naming* of New Liner The Primate of New Zealand (Archbishop Owen) is making earnest representations to the Shaw Savill Line to alter the name of its new 26,000ton liner Southern Cross, as this name is already carried by the Melanesian Mission’s steamer. Archbishop Owen said he was perturbed when he learned that the liner was to be named the Southern Cross, and had immediately made urgent representations to the company’s London office, but without success. He will continue his representations. The new liner will ply between New Zealand and Britain. Archbishop Owen said the Melanesian Mission had had a steamer bearing the name Southern Cross since 1855. The vessel’s annual visit to New Zealand had always attracted a great deal of support for the mission. It would be harmful to the mission to have a new Southern Cross in New Zealand waters.—(P.A.) Fire Brigade Praised “I would like to say that the fire brigade did a wonderful job. It should satisfy residents there that they have good protection,” said the chairman. Mr J. Mackenzie, at a meeting of the Halswell County Council yesterday, when he paid a tribute to the work of the Christchurch Fire Brigade at a fire in the factory of Mr K. N. Webley in Hoon Hay road on Monday. It seemed to him that the brigade had water on the fire in a very short time, though the water had to be brought quite a long distance. New Cap Ribbons for R.N.Z.N.V.R. New cap ribbons bearing the division’s name, H.M.N.Z.S. Pegasus, have been issued to Canterbury naval reservists and will be worn for the first time when the division parades on Monday evening. They will replace the familiar R.N.Z.N.V.R. ribbon which was worn until this week. The badge of the division is a white horse with

yellow wings on a blue background jumping over the waves. Other volunteer reserve divisions will also be issued with new ribbons. They are H.M.N.Z.S. Ngapona (Auckland), Olphert (Wellington), and Toroa (Dunedin). Post Office to Pavilion The small post office at East Takaka (Nelson) has been closed. Known to the Post and Telegraph Department as» a non-permanent office, it has dealt with the receipt and dispatch of mails in and out of the district for many years. The present post office building, which is owned by East Takaka settlers, is to be converted into a pavilion for use by the local tennis club. Canterbury Museum Seal The Canterbury Museum is to have a new seal—an imprint for documents. When the sealing of certain papers was beingauthorised yesterday by the Museum Trust Board, Mr W. S. MacGibbon asked: “Have we still got that old rubber stamp?” He recalled an offer he had made to pay for a proper embossing seal in keeping with the dignity oi the institution. It was explained that Mr R. S. D. Harman had offered to prepare designs just before his death. The board agreed to make other arrangements and Mr Mac Gibbon j said his offer was still open. Roading Research Members of the National Roads Board agreed yesterday that more money should be spent on research into roading problems. Mr N. H. Moss said that £20.000,000 was spent on roads in New Zealand each year, and if a private concern was spending this amount it would have a fully-equipped laboratory to test and investigate construction methods. He said that no money was being spent at present on research The chairman (Mr F. M. H. Hanson) said that in some Ministry of Works districts certain testing was done in laboratories, but it was on a small scale. The board would have to face the problem of providing reseach facilities. He favoured applied rather than basic or fundamental re-

search. Problems that should be tackled included testing of the use and combination of road materials, and more should be known about water evaporation under roads, a subject on which knowledge was sadly lacking.— (P.A.) Early Copies of “The Press” A set of “The Press’’ beginning from its establishment in 1861 has been presented to the Canterbury Museum by New Zealand Newspapers, Ltd. The offer was originally made to the Canterbury Public Library but, as it has all issues, the gift was transferred to the museum library. “This very important tool for research will be available to students working in the museum library,” the librarian (Mr J. C. Wilson) reported to the board yesterday. Two years ago the museum gained a ful] set of the “Lyttelton Times” which had been invaluable to students and the schools’ service. “These are the sources of much of our early history,” said the Director (Dr. Roger Duff). Postage on Magazines

By regulations gazetted last night the definition of magazines that may be transmitted by post at a reduced rate has been restricted. In future publications that are principally or ex-' clusivelv handbooks, price lists, circulars, almanacs, or directories are excluded from registration as magazines for transmission at the reduced rate. Another alteration in the law is that in future magazines will have to be published at intervals not exceeding three months to qualify for registra-tion.—-(P.A.) Chinese Translation

Two or three times a week a young Chinese goes to the Canterbury Museum to translate, for the public benefit, the inscriptions on a set of lithographs recently received from his homeland. The 24 lithographs, presented by Mr Rewi Alley, illustrate the eary history of man and human culture. The Director of the Museum (Dr. Roger Duff) told the board yesterday that Mr W. Cheng was born near Nanking but was uisplaced by the Japanese and went with his family to Singapore. On arrival in New Zealand he was too young to begin medical studies and also lacked qualifications in chemistry. He enrolled as a special senior student at St. Andrew’s College and though he gained only 7 per cent, in chemistry at his first examination, he scored 89 per cent, by the end of the year. Now he was taking medical intermediate studies as a first-year student at Canterbury University College. “His indispensable collaboration in translating the captions and explanatory leaflets is greatly appreciated,” Dr. Duff said. Roxburgh Dispute The decision of the disputes committee set up by agreement between the parties to consider the question of the dismissal of three men from the Roxburgh hydro project is that the contractors were justified in their action of dismissing the men.—(P.A.) Suggested Export of Potatoes The possibility of exporting up to 5000 tons of New Zealand potatoes is being investigated by the Potato Board. The board has requested the New Zealand Grain, Seed, and Produce Merchants’ Federation to make inquiries overseas to see whether this quantity can be placed. The board will then make a recommendation to the Minister of Marketing (Mr K. J. Hplyoake). The Minister said yesterday that if a request to export came from the Potato Board he would give it favourable consideration, provided it was shown conclusively that the local supply position warranted it.— (K0.0.R.)